QNAP has announced two new product lines in its family of Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices for home and small business users. The TS-x20 an TS-x21 series NAS units are all powered by Marvell ARM processors and feature QNAP's new QTS 4.0 OS. Both the TS-x20 and TS-x21 are available in 1-, 2-, and 4-bay configurations (i.e., TS-120, TS-220, and TS-420).

The TS-x20 series comes with a 1.6GHz processor paired with 512MB of DDR3 memory. The TS-x21 series ups the ante with a 2.0GHz processor and 1GB of DDR3 memory. All units feature a brushed metal chassis, two USB 3.0 ports and at least one GbE LAN port -- the TS-420 and TS-421 both come with two GbE LAN ports.

QNAP TS-421

As for QTS, version 4.0 offers up what QNAP calls an "intelligent desktop" which allows users to multitask in a multi-window environment. QTS 4.0 allows easy access to documents, pictures, videos, and music. Download Station even allows you to manage your Torrents if you're into that sort of thing. Naturally, all of the new NAS devices support AirPlay and DLNA.

QTS 4.0

QTS also brings Qsync, which provides easy file syncing between a desktop, laptop, and smartphone. QNAP likens the feature to DropBox, but with as much as storage as you're willing to add to your NAS unit.

QNAP has not yet announced pricing and availability for the TS-x20 and TS-x21 series, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out.

Updated 4/30/2013 @ 9:30pm EST

We've just been notified of pricing for the TS-x20 and TS-x21 lineup. The TS-120, TS-220, and TS-420 are priced at $179, $229, and $429 respectively. The TS-121, TS-221, and TS-421 are priced at $229, $329, and $499 respectively.

The point was that his argument isn't helping his position. His post reads like a total geek out, exactly the type of thing those buying pre-built NASes like the QNAPs and Synologys are often completely uninterested in. Seriously, compiling your own NAS OS add-ons are a plus for end users at home? That's just a bizarre argument.

quote: The point was that his argument isn't helping his position. His post reads like a total geek out, exactly the type of thing those buying pre-built NASes like the QNAPs and Synologys are often completely uninterested in. Seriously, compiling your own NAS OS add-ons are a plus for end users at home? That's just a bizarre argument.

I am a NAS surgeon, yes. But since you didn't understand, Nextera and FreeNAS are the lightweight filer OS you seem to prefer. The difference is you have a choice, and you have better hardware (and thus performance) along with the other advantages of zfs.

You seemed to gloss over all the other parts of my reply (power, cost, size, support) as well.